Zulaikah, Aziel Teo take lead into final round
KUCHING: Two junior golfers Zulaikah Nurziana Naseer and Aziel Teo Ken Yi are hitting it right at the 4th Sarawak Grand Golf Championship that entered its second day of competition at the Damai Golf and Country Club (DGCC) in Santubong yesterday.
Aziel, who was trailing first day’s leader and Kelab Golf Sarawak (KGS) teammate Lee Kah Ming by a stroke, staged a strong comeback yesterday to card a 74 for a total of 149 to tie with the latter for the first spot.
Lee had led the rest of the pack with a par-72 on the opening day and he and Aziel have emerged as the main contenders for the men’s title where 36 golfers made the cut for the final round today.
Mohd Nazeem from Kelab Golf Bintulu (KGB) remained in third spot one shot further back and he leads fourth-placed Mohammad Lokman Mustaffa and his teammate Daniel Yeo Thian Chai by one stroke.
Among the qualifiers are Malcolm Ting (KGM), Jacque Chiam and Johari Aman (KGS), Albert Goh (KGB) and Wong Tung Ann (Kelab Golf Sibu).
It was 15-year-old Zulaikah who stole the limelight of this year’s event after qualifying for the final round of the Ladies category with an impressive total score of five-under 139 and is leading the rest of the 10-player field including 13-year olds defending champion Angel Hii (153) from KGS and Mirabel Ting (145) from KGM.
A first-timer at DGCC, Zulaikah who flew in all the way from Kuala Lumpur early this week for the tournament, did not expect to register a four-under par game during the opening round.
She had registered three-under par 33 before she played on the second nine but two bogeys had forced her to be contented to return the day with a one-under par 71. She had enjoyed the scenic views over the club’s fairways over its Mountain Nine and Ocean Nine.
“This is my first time I am playing here and I did not feel any pressure of beating both Angel and Mirabel who were in the same flight with me,” said Zulaikah who was in the Sarawak Sukma team last year.
Looking forward to winning her first major golf title in Sarawak this year, Zulaikah finished third in this year’s 18th Sibu Amateur Open Golf Championship at the Sibu Golf Club and she was second in the recent 29th Sarawak Amateur Ladies’ Open Golf Championship held in early May also in Sibu.
Sarawak Sukma coach Abdul Samat was pleased to see Zulaikah playing well yesterday.
“She still played well today and hopefully it will continue in the final round when everybody is expected to give their very best to win the game,” said the coach who is also having more than 10 of his charges competing in the same event.
Meanwhile, DGCC general manager Roslan Mohd Salleh was happy that the event had been running smoothly and the weather had been sunny giving the competing golfers all the opportunities to do their best in conquering the greens and fairways.
“We are fortunate for the weather to be fine and sunny the past few days and hopefully it will hold during the final round which will be participated by many invited guests including those from other states,” he added.